Join us for an inspiring evening in our John & Nancy Hughes Theater with Dr. Neal Barnard, President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, along with Jane Esselstyn of the Esselstyn Family Foundation to learn about the nutritional power of eating a Whole Food Plant Based Diet and cooking strategies to help adopt this lifestyle. Guest chef Lee Kuebler of Elawa Farm Foundation will demo WFPB sauces.

$29 ticket -includes tastings and mocktail.

Event Highlights:
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Neal Barnard, renowned author and leader in plant-based nutrition
Jane and Crile Esselstyn: daughter and granddaughter of Dr. Caldwell T. Esselstyn, the pioneer in heart disease reversal through diet
Cooking Demonstration: Jane and Crile Esselstyn
Tastings: after the program in the Stuart Community Room
Meet & Greet, Book Signing

Event Schedule:
5:00 PM-Taste! Join us in the Stuart Community Room for complementary tastings and mocktails-you won’t want to enter our theater hungry! (Books for Sale)
5:30- 6:30 PM: Keynote address by Dr. Neal Barnard with Q&A
6:30- 7:00 PM: Cooking demo by Jane and Crile Esselstyn, focusing on strategies and recipes for eating WFPB
7:00- 7:30 PM:  Post Event Reception-Books for sale! Get them signed and meet the speakers! Enjoy more tastings

Special Screening leading up to the event:
On October 18th join us for a screening of the acclaimed documentary “Forks Over Knives,” featuring Dr. Esselstyn’s groundbreaking work on heart disease reversal, in our John & Nancy Hughes Theater.

Partners:
This event is brought to you in collaboration with Elawa Farm Foundation, The Book Stall, and Lake Forest Open Lands Association.  With special sponsorship by Sunset Foods Lake Forest.

Join Lake Forest Open Lands Association in The Power of Plants: a Conservation Perspective-for a book discussion: Douglas W. Tallamy’s  Nature’s Best Hope  Check it out HERE!

Neal Barnard, MD, FACC, is an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, DC, and President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.  Dr. Barnard has led numerous research studies investigating the effects of diet on diabetes, body weight, hormonal symptoms, and chronic pain, including a groundbreaking study of dietary interventions in type 2 diabetes, funded by the National Institutes of Health, that paved the way for viewing type 2 diabetes as a potentially reversible condition for many patients. His latest book is The Power Foods Diet: The Breakthrough Plan that Traps, Tames, and Burns Calories for Easy and Permanent Weight Loss. With more than 120 recipes and beautiful food photography, it shows the surprising ability that certain foods have to cause weight loss. Follow Dr. Barnard on  Instagram. 

Jane Esselstyn RN is a fresh, charismatic voice who brings her perspective and passion as a nurse, researcher, mother, and teacher to the forefront of the plant-based movement. She presents her work, research, and high energy demos around the world-including but not limited to places such as Mayo Clinic. Find her on her new YouTube channel with her firecracker mom, Ann Esselstyn.  Women, families and community drive Jane’s work forward. She is the host of the annual conference, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease for Women, which is focused on the power of plants! Jane claims, “Prevention is the new cure, and the most powerful, relevant, and protective medicine available”. With full enthusiasm, Jane co-founded Well, Now! Camp – an activity -filled, creative escape for Plant-Based Women Warriors – because vitality rocks!  Jane is an avid and inventive designer of plant-strong recipes and the co-author of  the NY Times Bestseller Be a Plant-Based Woman Warrior: Live Fierce, Stay Bold, Eat Delicious, and The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook. She created the recipe sections of #1 NY Times Bestseller, Plant-Strong and The Engine 2 Seven Day Rescue, by Rip Esselstyn. And she is a co-author of The Engine 2 Cookbook. Jane brings her infectious energy and straight forward message to her presentations, cooking demonstrations, and cookbooks with clarity, hilarity, and a can-do attitude. Follow Jane on Instagram.

Crile Hart is currently the Marketing Manager of Social Media at Hello TUSHY. She is also the Social Media Director for Jane Esselstyn and the Esselstyn Foundation and works part-time for “Plant-Strong” doing social media. She has been plant-based all her life and occasionally presents in plant-based online webinars or in-person events. She swam competitively for 16 years and graduated from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, in 2022 where she was nationally-ranked. She is the daughter of Jane Esselstyn, RN and Brian Hart and the granddaughter of Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., MD and Ann Crile Esselstyn, all well known voices in the plant-based movement.

The Esselstyn Family Foundation is dedicated to educating and empowering individuals to adopt a whole-food, plant-based diet for optimal health. Led by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, a pioneering researcher and physician renowned for his work in reversing heart disease through diet, the foundation promotes evidence-based nutritional science. Alongside Dr. Esselstyn, his family members, including wife Ann, daughter Jane, and son Rip, actively contribute to the mission through educational outreach and practical cooking demonstrations. Their commitment is to inspire sustainable lifestyle changes that improve overall well-being and prevent chronic diseases. Learn more here and follow them on Instagram. 

Born in Lake County, Illinois, Chef Lee Kuebler developed a passion for cooking and gardening by watching, helping, and learning alongside his mother. After high school, Chef Lee completed the professional gardener program at Chicago Botanic Garden. From there, he became a flower grower at Leider Greenhouses and managed their flower farm in Central Illinois. After a few years in the field, he attended Kendall College in Chicago to study culinary arts. Chef Lee worked in Chicago alongside renowned chefs such as Michael Garbin, Carlos Gaytan, Michael Kornick, and Michael Lachowicz.

Using what he learned in the Chicago culinary scene, Chef Lee founded Milwalky Trace, Milwalky Taco, and Oscar Lee’s BBQ in Libertyville. Chef Lee was the owner and operator of these restaurants for a decade, before deciding to expand his horizons. Combining his passion for gardening and food made him a perfect fit as Resident Chef at Elawa Farm Foundation. His goal is to transform this beautiful farm into a farm-to-table dining destination in the Midwest.